The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and should not be construed as constituting prior art.
During an automated immunochemistry analysis, analyte molecules in a patient's biological sample (e.g. serum or plasma) attach to paramagnetic particles. To remove background signals associated with potential chemical sources that may be present in the sample as well, a number of washing steps are typically implemented into the process. A consequence of these washing steps, however, is that some fraction of the original particles will be lost for subsequent chemistry processes.
As such, there is a need for a process that allows the particles remaining after the washing steps to be quantified in order to normalize the luminescence signal from the patient sample. The present application is intended to improve upon and resolve some of these known deficiencies of the art.